The “stick man” design of a Greek sculptor has been chosen in an online poll to be put on the new 2-euro coin to mark the 10th anniversary of the currency next year, the European Commission said yesterday.

George Stamatopoulos, a sculptor for the Bank of Greece, had put forward a design featuring a stick figure with one arm extending to make up part of the euro symbol. It was chosen as the best design of five finalists by 41 percent of 140,000 Europeans who voted online. The winning design can be seen on the Internet (www.eurodesigncontest.eu).

The European Commission described the winning design as “deliberately primitive” to illustrate how the euro is the latest step in the long history of trade, from prehistoric barter to Europe’s monetary union.

In January 2009, the 15 eurozone countries will issue some 90 million copies of the coin. All of them will bear Stamatopoulos’s design.